CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For the second time in 12 years, firefighters from across West Virginia came together for a Fire Safety Summit.
The state Fire Marshal’s Office worked with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and other partners to host the event Tuesday in Charleston at the Beni Kedem Temple. State Fire Marshal Ken Tyree told MetroNews that it’s an important event to share ideas and strategies to battle flames.
“It’s centered around wildfire intervention, wildfire interface; everything to do with fire prevention and fire safety,” Tyree said. “Whether it comes to educational messaging, whether it comes to fire escape plans, whether it comes to smoke alarms, portable fire extinguishers; carbon monoxide as another educational aspect.”
The summit highlighted the NFPA’s Don’t Chance Safety campaign. Tyree said that fire safety professionals, leaders, and community organizations from all around West Virginia were on hand.
“Really the importance of safety, whether it comes to codes and standards, and most importantly, where people live,” Tyree said. “So first responders, fire departments throughout the state, have come, from as far as the Eastern Panhandle to as south as Mercer County.”
Tyree said fire prevention needs to take precedence and communities need to be aware of what they can do to stop fires. He added that smoke alarms can save lives. He said that fire fatalities are all-too-common in the Mountain State.
“It’s very critical, because when you look at our state, unfortunately we have a significantly high fire death rate in the state in the past couple years,” Tyree said. “We’ve had a fire death rate of 60 people that have died, with our population not being that large.”
Since wildfires were a focus in the summit, Tyree noted that Thursday begins limited burn season in West Virginia. He said that the summit reinforced safety tips for firefighters that they can pass along to ther communities.
“(It’s about) being wise in how we burn,” Tyree said. “Obviously, controlled burning is good. Now that we have a limited burn season, from October to December, it’s critical to have the proper interface, the proper layout, proper cleanups.”
Tyree said it was great to see collaboration among firefighters in the state at the summit.
“As the senior fire official in the state, this is what we always hope to have,” Tyree said. “Good collaboration, good networking, with the ultimate end of really just trying to reduce the number of fires and fatalites.”